Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program and information processing system

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus receives a user selection of content to be reproduced by an external device connected to the information processing apparatus. A request to reproduce the user selected content is sent to the external device. Information indicating whether the external device has started reproducing the selected content is received from the external device. In response to the external device having started reproduction of the selected content, a thumbnail image is reproduced that corresponds to the content being reproduced by the external device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/454,781, filed May 22, 2009, which claims priority fromJapanese Patent Application No. JP 2008-140994 filed in the JapanesePatent Office on May 29, 2008, the entire content of which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, aninformation processing method, a program, and an information processingsystem.

2. Description of the Related Art

With widespread use of data communication networks nowadays, a so-calledhome network enabling communication between devices by connectinghousehold appliances, computers, and other peripherals to a network isfinding its way also into the home. In a home network, convenience andcomfort are provided to users such as sharing a data processing functionof each device and transmission/reception of content between devices byperforming communication between network connected devices andincreasing use thereof is expected in the future.

In a system described in JP3823929, for example, after content beingshared between server and client devices, the client device acquirescontent from the server to reproduce the content.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, there is an issue that it is difficult for a novice to build ahome network because it becomes frequently necessary to use professionalexpertise in order to build a home network as described above usingvarious devices such as server and client devices.

Thus, the present invention has been made in view of the above issue andit is desirable to provide a novel and improved information processingapparatus enabling easy construction of a home network withoutprofessional expertise, an information processing method, a program, andan information processing system.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is providedan information processing apparatus, including a content informationacquisition unit that acquires content related information related tocontent data managed by a content management server from the contentmanagement server managing the content data, a selection unit thatselects content from a content list which is a list of the content basedon the content related information, and an externally connected devicecontrol unit that notifies, when the selected content is executed by anexternally connected device connected externally, the externallyconnected device of location information of content data correspondingto the selected content and acquires reproduction state informationrepresenting a reproduction state of content when the externallyconnected device reproduces the selected content from the externallyconnected device.

According to the above configuration, the content informationacquisition unit acquires content related information related to contentmanaged by a content management server from the content managementserver managing the content. Moreover, the externally connected devicecontrol unit notifies, when selected content is executed by anexternally connected device connected externally, the externallyconnected device of location information of content data correspondingto the selected content and acquires content reproduction stateinformation representing a reproduction state of content when theexternally connected device reproduces the selected content from theexternally connected device.

The content information acquisition unit may acquire the content dataand the information processing apparatus may further include a contentlist generation unit that generates a content list, which is a list ofthe content, based on the content related information.

The information processing apparatus may further include a contentreproduction processing unit that performs reproduction processing ofcontent to reproduce the content data selected from the content list.

The information processing apparatus may further include a storage unitthat stores thumbnail information containing information about athumbnail of the content, wherein the content reproduction processingunit reproduces, when the selected content is reproduced by theexternally connected device, the thumbnail information corresponding tothe content being reproduced by the externally connected device byacquiring the thumbnail information from the storage unit.

The externally connected device control unit may control switching ofthe content being reproduced by the externally connected device based oncontent reproduction state information acquired from the externallyconnected device.

The content reproduction processing unit may switch the thumbnailinformation being reproduced based on content reproduction stateinformation acquired from the externally connected device.

Video content may be associated with time information and frame imagesof characteristic scenes of the video content as metadata and thecontent reproduction processing unit may display the frame imagesassociated as the metadata based on a content reproduction stateacquired from the externally connected device and the metadata.

When the content is being reproduced by the content reproductionprocessing unit and while the content being reproduced, the contentbeing reproduced should be switched to be reproduced by the externallyconnected device, the externally connected device control unit maytransmit information indicating a reproducing point of the content beingreproduced to the externally connected device to cause the externallyconnected device to synchronize with the reproducing point based oninformation indicating the reproducing point.

The externally connected device control unit may notify the externallyconnected device of a reproduction list of content to be reproduced bythe externally connected device for each type of the content to causethe externally connected device to reproduce the content by linking thereproduction list of the different content types.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided an information processing method, including the steps ofacquiring content related information related to content data managed bya content management server from the content management server managingthe content data, selecting content from a content list which is a listof the content based on the content related information, and notifying,when the selected content is executed by an externally connected deviceconnected externally, the externally connected device of locationinformation of content data corresponding to the selected content; andacquiring reproduction state information representing a reproductionstate of content when the externally connected device reproduces theselected content from the externally connected device.

The information acquisition step may acquire the content data and theinformation processing method may further include the steps of:generating a content list, which is a list of the content, based on thecontent related information and performing reproduction processing ofcontent to reproduce the content data selected from the content list.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a program that causes a computer connectable to a contentmanagement server managing content and an externally connected device torealize a content information acquisition function that acquires contentrelated information related to content managed by the content managementserver from the content management server, a content list generationfunction that generates a content list, which is a list of the contentthat can be viewed, based on the acquired content related information, acontent reproduction processing function that reproduces the contentselected from the content list, and an externally connected devicecontrol function that notifies, when the selected content is executed byan externally connected device connected externally, the externallyconnected device of location information of content data correspondingto the selected content and acquires content reproduction stateinformation representing a reproduction state of content when theexternally connected device reproduces the selected content from theexternally connected device.

According to the above configuration, a computer program causes, bybeing executed after being stored in a storage unit provided with acomputer and read into a CPU provided with the computer, the computer tofunction as the above information processing apparatus. A computerreadable recording medium in which the computer program is stored canalso be provided. The recording medium includes a magnetic disk, opticaldisk, magneto-optical disk, and flash memory. The computer program mayalso be delivered via, for example, a network without using anyrecording medium.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided an information processing system, including a contentmanagement server that manages content, an information processingapparatus, including a content information acquisition unit thatacquires content related information related to content managed by thecontent management server and content data corresponding to the content,a selection unit that selects content from a content list which is alist of the content based on the content related information, and anexternally connected device control unit that notifies, when theselected content is executed by an externally connected device connectedexternally, the externally connected device of location information ofcontent data corresponding to the selected content and acquires contentreproduction state information representing a reproduction state ofcontent when the externally connected device reproduces the selectedcontent from the externally connected device, and a renderer apparatus,including a content data acquisition unit that acquires the content datafrom the content management server based on location information of thecontent data notified from the information processing apparatus and acontent reproduction processing unit that reproduces the acquiredcontent data.

According to the embodiments of the present invention described above, ahome network can be built without relying on professional expertise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view illustrating an information processingsystem according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing apparatus according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3A is an explanatory view illustrating a reproduction listgenerated by the information processing apparatus according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 3B is an explanatory view exemplifying a database held by theinformation processing apparatus according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an information processing methodaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view exemplifying the information processingmethod according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart exemplifying the information processing methodaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view illustrating a concrete example of theinformation processing method according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view illustrating examples of hierarchicalcontainers set for each type of content;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view illustrating a concrete example of theinformation processing method according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view illustrating a concrete example of theinformation processing method according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view illustrating a concrete example of theinformation processing method according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view illustrating a concrete example of theinformation processing method according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view illustrating a concrete example of theinformation processing method according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating the hardware configuration ofthe information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 15A is an explanatory view illustrating a sharing method and areproduction method of content in a home network; and

FIG. 15B is an explanatory view illustrating the sharing method and thereproduction method of content in the home network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the appended drawings. Note that,in this specification and the appended drawings, structural elementsthat have substantially the same function and structure are denoted withthe same reference numerals, and repeated explanation of thesestructural elements is omitted.

<Description of a Home Network>

First, before describing an information processing system and aninformation processing apparatus according to each embodiment of thepresent invention, the sharing method and the reproduction method ofcontent in a home network currently proposed will briefly be describedwith reference to FIGS. 15A and 15B. FIGS. 15A and 15B are explanatoryviews illustrating the sharing method and the reproduction method ofcontent in a home network.

Currently, DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is known as a standardfor building a home network using AV equipment, personal computers,mobile devices and the like.

According to the DLNA guideline, content such as photos, music, andvideo is stored in a device called a digital media server (DMS) 1003 anda content list is managed in a structure having a folder hierarchycalled a content directory (Content Directory Service: CDS). An ID valueto uniquely identify each piece of content and a URL from which metadataand content data, which are detailed information of content, can beacquired are attached to each piece of content in the CDS. The CDS isreleased to other devices in a home network 1001, and a digital mediaplayer (DMP) 1005, which is a client device to reproduce content,selects content by navigating through the CDS on the DMS and acquirescontent data indicated by the URL from the digital media server 1003 toreproduce the content. Here, an HTTP is used as a protocol used forcommunication (for example, mutual communication for list acquisitionand content data acquisition) between the DMS 1003 and the DMP 1005. Acommunication model shown in FIG. 15A to realize contentsharing/reproduction constituted by the DMS 1003 and the DMP 1005 iscalled a 2-Box model.

The DLNA guideline also provides a device 1009 called renderer (DigitalMedia Renderer: DMR) dedicated to reproduction of content designated byother devices without navigating through the content list actively perse. When the URL of content to be reproduced is notified, the DMR 1009acquires content data indicated by the URL in the same manner as the DMP1005 using the HTTP and reproduces the content. A device that performsoperations such as designation, reproduction, stop, and seeks of contenton the DMR 1009 is called a controller (Digital Media Controller: DMC)1007. The DMC 1007 generally has a function to select content bynavigating through the CDS on the DMS 1003. A communication model ofcontent sharing/reproduction constituted by the DMS/DMC/DMR shown inFIG. 15B is called a 3-Box model.

Devices such as the DMS/DMP/DMC/DMR are conceptual devices classifiedbased on functions of each of devices and thus may not correspond tophysical hardware one-to-one. Moreover, communication between devices isperformed by using a protocol (for example, TCP/UDP and HTTP/SOAP)assembled on the basis of IPv4 and thus hardware implementing eachdevice is assumed to have a communication function (typically, Ethernet,wireless LAN and the like) capable of operating the Internet Protocol(IP).

First Embodiment Information Processing System

First, an information processing system according to the firstembodiment of the present invention will be described in detail withreference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view illustrating aninformation processing system according to the present embodiment.

An information processing system 1 according to the present embodimentincludes, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a communication network 3, aninformation processing apparatus 10, content management servers 20A to20C, and a renderer apparatus 30.

The communication network 3 is a communication line network thatbi-directionally communicably or uni-directionally communicably connectsthe information processing apparatus 10, the content management servers20A to 20C, and the renderer apparatus 30. The communication network isconstituted, for example, by a public network such as the Internet, atelephone line network, satellite communication network, andsimultaneous communication channel, or a leased line network such as aWAN (Wide Area Network), LAN (Local Area Network), IP-VPN (InternetProtocol-Virtual Private Network), Ethernet (registered trademark), andwireless LAN and it does not matter whether the line network is by wireor by radio.

The information processing apparatus 10 is an apparatus capable ofreproducing content such as video content, music content, and photocontent by acquiring such content from the content management server 20described later. The information processing apparatus 10 may also be acomputer apparatus such as a personal computer and server, or aninformation home appliance having a communication function via a networksuch as a TV receiver, DVD/HDD recorder, mobile phone, PDA (PersonalDigital Assistant), digital camera, home video game machine, and digitalvideo camera. The information processing apparatus 10 may also be aportable device that can be carried by a subscriber such as a portablegame machine, PHS, and portable video/sound player. The informationprocessing apparatus 10 also has functions of a digital media player(DMP) and a digital media controller (DMC) conforming to the DLNA(Digital Living Network Alliance) guideline. Further, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 also has a function of a digital media server(DMS). The information processing apparatus 10 according to the presentembodiment has both functions of the DMS and DMP and thus can managecontent and the information processing apparatus 10 itself can reproducecontent. Further, the information processing apparatus 10 according tothe present embodiment also has a function of the DMC and thus cancontrol the renderer apparatus 30. As a result, a user of theinformation processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodimentcan easily build a home network without having professional expertise inthe home network.

The content management servers 20A to 20C manage content such as videocontent, music content, and photo content by associating the contentwith location information or metadata of the content. The contentmanagement servers 20A to 20C also provide content and metadata ofcontent managed by the content management server 20 in response torequests from the information processing apparatus 10 and the rendererapparatus 30 connected via the communication network 3. The contentmanagement servers 20A to 20C may be a computer apparatus such as apersonal computer and server, or an information home appliance having acommunication function via a network such as a TV receiver, DVD/HDDrecorder, mobile phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), digitalcamera, home video game machine, and digital video camera. The contentmanagement servers 20A to 20C may also be a portable device that can becarried by a subscriber such as a portable game machine, PHS, andportable video/sound player. The content management servers 20A to 20Chave a function of the digital media server (DMS) conforming to the DLNAguideline.

The renderer apparatus 30 is an apparatus that acquires content datacorresponding to content designated by the information processingapparatus 10 from the content management servers 20A to 20C to reproducethe content. The renderer apparatus 30 may be a computer apparatus suchas a personal computer and server, or an information home appliancehaving a communication function via a network such as a TV receiver,DVD/HDD recorder, mobile phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant),digital camera, home video game machine, and digital video camera. Therenderer apparatus 30 may also be a portable device that can be carriedby a subscriber such as a portable game machine, PHS, and portablevideo/sound player. The renderer apparatus 30 has a function of adigital media renderer (DMR) conforming to the DLNA guideline.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, only one unit of each of the informationprocessing apparatus 10 and the renderer apparatus 30 is connected tothe communication network 3, but a plurality of units of each of theinformation processing apparatus 10 and the renderer apparatus 30 may beconnected to the communication network 3. Similarly, in the exampleshown in FIG. 1, three units of the content management servers 20A to20C are connected, but one or two units of the content management server20 may be connected to the communication network 3, or four or moreunits of the content management server 20 may be connected.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 10,the content management server 20, and the renderer apparatus 30 aremutually connected via the communication network 3, but the informationprocessing apparatus 10 and the content management server 20 maydirectly be connected without going through the communication network 3.

The information processing apparatus 10 will be described in detailbelow again.

<Configuration of the Information Processing Apparatus>

Subsequently, the configuration of the information processing apparatus10 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail withreference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating theconfiguration of the information processing apparatus 10 according tothe present embodiment.

The information processing apparatus 10 according to the presentembodiment mainly includes, as shown, for example, in FIG. 2, a contentinformation acquisition unit 101, a user input processing unit 103, acontent list generation unit 105, a content reproduction processing unit107, a display control unit 109, a renderer apparatus control unit 111,and a storage unit 113.

The content information acquisition unit 101 is constituted, forexample, by a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM(Random Access Memory), and a communication apparatus. The contentinformation acquisition unit 101 acquires content information related tocontent managed by the content management server 20 from the contentmanagement server 20 that can be connected via the communication network3. Here, content information related to content includes, for example,location information of content data corresponding to content, metadataof content, and content data itself.

Here, metadata of content is attribute information about contents ofcontent such as the date, play list, channel, genre, and viewing stateand includes at least metadata provided, for example, in the DLNAguideline. Location information of content data includes, for example,an ID for managing content and URL (Uniform Resource Identifier) ofcontent.

Content information acquired by the content information acquisition unit101 is recorded in the storage unit 113 described later. The contentinformation acquisition unit 101 may directly transmit acquired contentdata to the content list generation unit 105 and the contentreproduction processing unit 107.

Here, the content information acquisition unit 101 can record contentdata acquired from the content management server 20, content datadirectly installed in the information processing apparatus 10 and thelike in the storage unit 113 described later after creating apredetermined CDS in accordance with metadata associated with thecontent data.

Further, the content information acquisition unit 101 can acquire, forexample, data on a jacket cover photo of an album, which is a collectionof music content, trailers of video content, and thumbnails of videocontent, photo content and the like from the content management server20 as content information. Here, a thumbnail of content shows stillpictures representing a title of content, details of content and thelike.

The content information acquisition unit 101 can acquire the contentinformation from the content management server 20 in advance in anytiming, for example, when the information processing apparatus 10 itselfis started, the content management server 20 connected to thecommunication network 3 is started, or the information processingapparatus 10 is connected to the content management server 20 to recordthe content information in the storage unit 113 as a cache.

The user input processing unit 103 is constituted, for example, by aCPU, ROM, RAM, and communication apparatus. When content or the likedisplayed in a display unit (not shown) provided with the informationprocessing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is selectedby the user, the user input processing unit 103 generates a processingstart signal corresponding to the selected content to request thecorresponding processing unit to start processing.

If, for example, the user of the information processing apparatus 10selects processing to generate a list of content that can be viewed bythe information processing apparatus 10, the user input processing unit103 generates a processing start signal corresponding to the selectedprocessing content to request the content list generation unit 105described later to start to generate a content list.

If the user of the information processing apparatus selects to viewspecific content based on contents of a content list, the user inputprocessing unit 103 generates a processing start signal indicating thatcontent viewing is selected to request the content informationacquisition unit 101 to acquire content data.

User input done into the user input processing unit 103 may be done byan object such as an icon displayed in the display unit (not shown) ofthe information processing apparatus 10 being selected by the user usinga position determination object such as a mouse pointer and cursor. Userinput may also be done by a command or the like being input by the userthrough an input apparatus such as a keyboard provided in theinformation processing apparatus 10. Further, user input may be varioussignals transmitted from a digital media controller (DMC) conforming tothe DLNA guideline.

The content list generation unit 105 is constituted, for example, by aCPU, ROM, and RAM. The content list generation unit 105 generates acontent list, which is a list of content viewable by the informationprocessing apparatus 10, based on content information acquired by thecontent information acquisition unit 101. More specifically, the contentlist generation unit 105 generates a content list in which viewablecontent is listed by referencing, for example, the latest contentinformation recorded in the storage unit 113 described later. Athumbnail corresponding to each piece of content may also be displayedin the content list together with a content title and the like.

The content list may also be displayed in such a way that contentmanaged by the content management server 20 in an operating state andthat managed by the content management server 20 in a non-operatingstate are distinguishable. For example, the content management server 20can be displayed by distinguishing the operating state thereof bydisplaying the thumbnail, title and the like of content managed by theserver 20 in a non-operating state darker than normal brightness such asthe grayout display while displaying the thumbnail, title and the likeof content managed by the server 20 in an operating state in normalbrightness.

A content list described above is generated without explicitlyindicating which content is being managed by which content managementserver 20. Thus, the user of the information processing apparatus 10 mayfeel as if content displayed in a content list is managed by one unit ofthe content management server. With such a content list being generated,the user of the information processing apparatus 10 can know viewablecontent without grasping by which server the content is being managed.

The content reproduction processing unit 107 is constituted, forexample, by a CPU, ROM, and RAM, and performs reproduction processing ofcontent data transmitted from the content information acquisition unit101, that stored in the storage unit 113 and the like. The contentreproduction processing unit 107 can use data and databases recorded inthe storage unit 113 described later.

More specifically, when a processing start signal indicating thatcontent has been selected is notified by the user input processing unit103, the content reproduction processing unit 107 first generates areproduction list, which is a list of content to be reproduced.

The reproduction list generated by the content reproduction processingunit 107 has content selected by the user from the content list listedtherein and has at least the identification number (ID) in a databaseuniquely allocated to the selected content. FIG. 3A is an example of thereproduction list when three pieces of content are selected by the user.As shown in FIG. 3A, the reproduction list has IDs allocated to theuser-selected content.

Content information acquired by the content information acquisition unit101 is recorded in the storage unit 113 described later in a form ofdatabase as shown, for example, in FIG. 3B. That is, at least the IDvalue (content ID) uniquely allocated to content, title attached to thecontent, URL indicating the location of content data, URL indicating thelocation of a thumbnail of cached content, and date/time information arerecorded as metadata in a database recorded in the storage unit 113.

Each processing unit of the information processing apparatus 10 can knowthe location where content data is present (in other words, in whichposition of which content management server 20 content data is present),the location of cache information stored in the information processingapparatus 10 and the like by referencing the database when necessary.

In the example shown in FIG. 3B, a database about photo content isshown, but similar databases are stored in the storage unit 113 aboutother types of content such as music content and video content. Items ofthe database shown in FIG. 3B are only an example and other items thatare not shown in the figure may also be present in a database.

Next, the content reproduction processing unit 107 determines whetheruser input indicates that selected content is to be reproduced by theinformation processing apparatus 10 or by the renderer apparatus 30,which is an externally connected device connected to the informationprocessing apparatus 10.

If the signal transmitted from the user input processing unit 103 is asignal indicating that content is to be reproduced by the informationprocessing apparatus 10, the content reproduction processing unit 107requests the content information acquisition unit 101 to acquire contentdata based on location information (that is, the URL) of the contentdata described in the generated reproduction list. When acquisition ofthe content data is completed, the content reproduction processing unit107 outputs the content data acquired by the content informationacquisition unit 101 to the display control unit 109. If, in this case,the acquired content data is encoded, the content reproductionprocessing unit 107 may output decoded content to the display controlunit 109 while decoding content data or output content data to thedisplay control unit 109 after decoding is completed.

For example, the content reproduction processing unit 107 acquirescontent information in the order of a reproduction list from a databaserecorded in the storage unit 113 described later, the contentinformation acquisition unit 101 receives content data by connecting tothe URL from which the content data is acquired using the HTTP, and thedisplay control unit 109 displays the received data in a screen. Thecontent reproduction processing unit 107 can realize a slideshow byautomatically processing items in a list at regular intervals (slideshowdisplay switching time).

When content selected by the user is reproduced by the informationprocessing apparatus 10 in this manner, the information processingapparatus 10 according to the present embodiment functions as a DMPfollowing the DLNA guideline.

If, on the other hand, the signal transmitted from the user inputprocessing unit 103 is a signal indicating that content is to bereproduced by an externally connected device (for example, the rendererapparatus 30) connected externally to the information processingapparatus 10, the content reproduction processing unit 107 outputs thegenerated reproduction list to the renderer apparatus control unit 111described later for a notification to the renderer apparatus 30 thatreproduces content via the renderer apparatus control unit 111. At thispoint, the content reproduction processing unit 107 determines the typesof content reproducible by the designated renderer apparatus 30 based onrenderer apparatus attribute information notified from the rendererapparatus control unit 111 described later. If there is content that isnot reproducible by the designated renderer apparatus 30 in thereproduction list of which the renderer apparatus 30 is notified, thecontent reproduction processing unit 107 may delete the ID correspondingto the applicable content before transmitting the changed reproductionlist or stop transmission of the reproduction list to prompt the user tochange the selection of content.

When reproduction of content by the renderer apparatus 30 is started,the content reproduction processing unit 107 accesses a databaserecorded in the storage unit 113 based on the ID value described in thereproduction list to acquire location information of a thumbnail filerecorded in the database. Subsequently, the content reproductionprocessing unit 107 notifies the content information acquisition unit101 of the acquired location information and the content informationacquisition unit 101 acquires cache information of the thumbnail fromthe storage unit 113 based on the notified location information. Whenacquisition of cache information of the thumbnail is completed, thecontent reproduction processing unit 107 outputs the acquired cacheinformation of the thumbnail to the display control unit 109.

When content selected by the user is reproduced by the rendererapparatus 30 in this manner, the information processing apparatus 10according to the present embodiment functions as a DMC following theDLNA guideline.

There may be cases in which an apparatus reproducing content is switchedwhile the content being reproduced and the information processingapparatus 10 according to the present embodiment can easily switch thereproducing apparatus also in such cases. For example, when reproductionby the information processing apparatus 10 is switched to that by therenderer apparatus 30, the content reproduction processing unit 107 canrealize the switching by transmitting the URL of content data to therenderer apparatus 30 via the renderer apparatus control unit 111 basedon the reproduction list used for reproduction.

When content is reproduced in the form of streaming from the contentmanagement server 20, instead of reproduction after all content databeing downloaded to the information processing apparatus 10, it ispreferable to transmit a reproduction request to the renderer apparatus30 after stopping data streaming with the content management server 20.

If content is still picture content such as photo content, no issue willbe caused even if the reproducing apparatus is switched while thecontent being reproduced, but if content is such content that changeswith time such as music content and video content, there is apossibility that a portion already viewed needs to be viewed again ifthe reproducing apparatus is switched at some midpoint of some content.Thus, if content being reproduced is such content that changes withtime, the content reproduction processing unit 107 preferably transmitscontent data by attaching identification information (in other words,identification information indicating the reproducing point in content)indicating the position being reproduced (for example, the temporalposition such as having been reproduced up to ο min, Δ sec or the amountof data already reproduced). With such identification information beingtransmitted to the renderer apparatus 30 by the renderer apparatuscontrol unit 111 described later, content can be switched withoutoverlapping with a portion already reproduced.

The content reproduction processing unit 107 can also processreproduction lists of different content types such as a reproductionlist about photo content and that about music content at the same time.Accordingly, the information processing apparatus 10 according to thepresent embodiment can realize complex content reproduction such asperforming reproduction processing of photo content by operating musiccontent together. Moreover, even if the information processing apparatus10 according to the present embodiment functions as a DMC, the rendererapparatus 30 can be caused to realize complex content reproduction bythe renderer apparatus 30 being notified of URLs of different contenttypes together from the renderer apparatus control unit 111 describedlater.

The display control unit 109 is constituted, for example, by a CPU, ROM,and RAM, and exercises display control for the display in the displayunit (not shown) of the information processing apparatus 10 by executingcontent data or cache information of thumbnail transmitted from thecontent reproduction processing unit 107. More specifically, when theinformation processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodimentfunctions as a DMP (that is, when content is reproduced by theinformation processing apparatus 10 according to the presentembodiment), the display control unit 109 exercises display control todisplay content in the display unit by reproducing content datatransmitted from the content reproduction processing unit 107. When theinformation processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodimentfunctions as a DMC (that is, when content is reproduced by the rendererapparatus 30), the display control unit 109 exercises display control todisplay content in the display unit by reproducing cache information ofthumbnail transmitted from the content reproduction processing unit 107.

In the above description, the function of the display control unit 109is described by mainly taking content data containing images such asphoto content and video content as examples, but if content datacontains only sound data such as music content, the content reproductionprocessing unit 107 reproduces the sound data. If, when music content orthe like is reproduced, the display unit is caused to display variouskinds of image content in synchronization with the reproduction of themusic content, the display control unit 109 can exercise display controlof image content in synchronization with the reproduction of the musiccontent.

The renderer apparatus control unit 111, which is an example of anexternally connected device control unit, is constituted, for example,by a CPU, ROM, and RAM, and controls the renderer apparatus when therenderer apparatus 30 is caused to reproduce content selected from acontent list.

Before exercising control for content reproduction, the rendererapparatus control unit 111 acquires attribute information (rendererapparatus attribute information) about the renderer apparatus 30 towhich the information processing apparatus 10 according to the presentembodiment is connectible. The renderer apparatus attribute informationcontains not only information about the network address allocated to therenderer apparatus 30 and types of content (for example, photo content,video content, and music content) reproducible by the renderer apparatus30, but also information about the name given to the renderer apparatus30 and an icon given to the renderer apparatus 30. The rendererapparatus control unit 111 can cause the content information acquisitionunit 101, the content list generation unit 105, and the contentreproduction processing unit 107 to use the renderer apparatus attributeinformation for processing in each processing unit by notifying eachprocessing unit of the attribute information. The renderer apparatuscontrol unit 111 can record the renderer apparatus attribute informationin the storage unit 113 described later, for example, in a form ofdatabase.

The renderer apparatus control unit 111 can acquire the rendererapparatus attribute information from the renderer apparatus 30 inadvance in any timing, for example, when the information processingapparatus 10 itself is started, the renderer apparatus 30 connected tothe communication network 3 is started, or the information processingapparatus 10 is connected to the renderer apparatus 30 to record therenderer apparatus attribute information in the storage unit 113 as acache.

When a selection is made to reproduce content in the renderer apparatus30, the renderer apparatus control unit 111 sets location information(URL) of content described in the reproduction list to the rendererapparatus 30. Further, the renderer apparatus control unit 111 transmitsa reproduction request to start reproduction of content data acquiredfrom the content management server 20 to the renderer apparatus 30 toinstruct the start of content reproduction.

Moreover, the renderer apparatus control unit 111 transmits areproduction state information acquisition request to acquire thereproduction state of content in the renderer apparatus 30 atpredetermined intervals (for example, every one second). Thereproduction state of content in the renderer apparatus 30 includesinformation whether the display of content data of the designated URLreceived from the content management server 20 in the screen iscompleted and how far content that changes with time such as musiccontent and video content has been reproduced. Further, the reproductionstate of content includes, in addition to the above, information aboutreproduction control of content such as whether the designation ofanother URL or reproduction stop request by another DMC is received. Bytransmitting such a reproduction state information acquisition request,unexpected situations when, for example, content expected by the user ofthe information processing apparatus 10 could not be displayed, canswiftly be dealt with.

In order to check, among reproduction states of the renderer apparatus30, states of reproduction, stop, and pause and therebetween and URLs ofcontent to be reproduced, in addition to the above method of requestingperiodic confirmation from the information processing apparatus 10functioning as a DMC described above, such states can be known fromnotification (GENA eventing) from the renderer apparatus 30. To receivea notification from the renderer apparatus 30 by GENA, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 performs notification request processing(Subscribe) of an event before performing processing to issue a requestto the renderer apparatus 30.

By using reproduction state information of the acquired content, forexample, processing described below can be performed. If, for example, aplurality of the renderer apparatuses 30 is caused to reproduce contentthat does not change with time such as photo content (that is, aslideshow display of content is made), the renderer apparatus controlunit 111 starts to measure the slideshow display switching time when areproduction state indicating that content selected by the user has beendisplayed correctly on the renderer apparatuses 30 is acquired. Here,when the slideshow display switching time passes a fixed time, therenderer apparatus control unit 111 instructs processing of the nextitem in the reproduction list, enabling realization of display switchingcontrol of content.

When content with a time width for reproduction itself such as musiccontent and video content is reproduced, it is preferable to be able toprovide the position currently being reproduced in the screen of theinformation processing apparatus 10 as feedback to the user. Thus, therenderer apparatus control unit 111 acquires the current reproducingpoint from the renderer apparatus 30 by using reproduction stateinformation of the acquired content so that the corresponding cache datacan be displayed on the information processing apparatus 10 functioningas a DMC by using the position information.

When the renderer apparatus 30 is caused to reproduce video content,more intuitive feedback can be given to the user by displaying athumbnail image in the screen of the information processing apparatus 10matching an actual image at the reproducing point in the rendererapparatus 30. To realize this, video content is analyzed in advance todetect time positions to be characteristic points in video such as ascene change and a climax of sound at constant intervals and a list(hereinafter, referred to as a film roll) pairing time information ofsuch points and frame images is generated as metadata (attributeinformation) of the content. When the video content is reproduced by therenderer apparatus 30, the corresponding time position and frame imageare acquired from the film roll based on the reproducing point acquiredfrom the renderer apparatus 30 to display the frame image in the screenof the information processing apparatus 10 functioning as a DMC.

An analysis to generate a film roll may be performed on the contentmanagement server 20 managing video content to release obtained analysisresults as attribute information in the CDS so that when contentinformation is collected by the information processing apparatus 10,attribute information about the film roll is also acquired. If thecontent management server 20 does not have the above analysis function,the information processing apparatus 10 may temporarily download videocontent on the content management server 20 so that, after an analysisis performed, analysis results are stored in a cache database stored inthe storage unit 113.

The storage unit 113 has a database in which content information or thelike acquired by the content information acquisition unit 101 isdescribed recorded therein together with the generation time. Contentdata itself may be recorded in the storage unit 113. Various parametersthat become necessary to store when the information processing apparatus10 according to the present embodiment performs some kind of processingand progress of processing, or various databases may also be stored inthe storage unit 113 when necessary. The content information acquisitionunit 101, the user input processing unit 103, the content listgeneration unit 105, the content reproduction processing unit 107, thedisplay control unit 109, the renderer apparatus control unit 111 andthe like can freely read/write from/to the storage unit 113.

The information processing apparatus 10 according to the presentembodiment has, as described above, the functions of the DMP and DMC inthe DLNA guideline and is capable of reproducing content in the DMS andinstructing the DMR to reproduce content. The information processingapparatus 10 also has a collection function to locally store URLs,metadata, and thumbnail images of the content stored in a plurality ofDMS present in a home network by incorporating such data into a databasefor caching. The information processing apparatus 10 according to thepresent embodiment can provide a display that makes it unnecessary to beaware of each DMS on which content is stored by configuring a contentlist based on a cache database recorded in the storage unit 113.

A content list to be generated can be classified according to specificsection (for example, the date, play list, channel, genre, viewingstate, and automatic channel) to make an icon display of content inspecific order. When an object such as an icon or thumbnail is selectedby the user, the corresponding content can be acquired from the contentmanagement server 20 to display the content in the screen. When theinformation processing apparatus 10 itself has a function of the DMS anddirectly manages content data, the content data managed by theinformation processing apparatus 10 can also be reproduced.

When instructed to reproduce one or a plurality of pieces of contentselected by the user in the DMR, the information processing apparatus 10according to the present embodiment functions as a DMC to reproducecontent selected from the DMR.

In the information processing apparatus 10 according to the presentembodiment, a virtual reproduction list as shown in FIG. 3A is createdwhen content is selected and reproduced to reproduce the content in thelist in turn. For example, when a plurality of pieces of photo contentis selected and reproduction thereof is started, reproduction of aso-called slideshow is started. The information processing apparatus 10according to the present embodiment can exercise reproduction controlbased on the same list regardless of whether content is reproduced by aDMP or a DMR by containing information (for example, the URL, metadata,thumbnail images and the like of content) necessary to reproduce contentboth by the DMP and DMR as information about the content in thereproduction list. Therefore, when the information processing apparatus10 according to the present embodiment is reproducing content as a DMP,reproduction of the content can be switched to a DMR halfway through thecontent.

When the function is switched to behave as a DMC, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment displaysmetadata and thumbnail images of content of which the DMR is instructedto reproduce in the display unit of the information processing apparatus10. Accordingly, the user of the information processing apparatus 10 cancheck the reproduction state by the DMR in the screen of the informationprocessing apparatus 10 functioning as a DMC.

An example of functions of the information processing apparatus 10according to the present embodiment has been shown. Each of the abovecomponents may be constituted by using general-purpose members andcircuits or by hardware specialized for the function of each component.Additionally, the function of each component may all be performed by aCPU or the like. Therefore, the configuration to be used can be changedin accordance with the technical level when the present embodiment iscarried out if necessary.

<Information Processing Method>

Subsequently, the information processing method according to the presentembodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an information processing methodexecuted by the information processing apparatus 10 according to thepresent embodiment. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view illustrating theinformation processing method when the information processing apparatus10 according to the present embodiment functions as a DMC. FIG. 6 is aflow chart illustrating the information processing method when contentis reproduced as a slideshow.

First, the flow of the information processing method according to thepresent embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.In the information processing method according to the presentembodiment, the content information acquisition unit 101 first acquirescontent information (for example, location information and metadata)about content managed by each of the content management servers 20 fromeach of the content management servers 20 (step S101). The contentinformation is acquired in any timing, for example, when the informationprocessing apparatus 10 itself is started, the content management server20 connected to the communication network 3 is started, or theinformation processing apparatus 10 is connected to the contentmanagement server 20. When content information containing at leastlocation information and metadata is acquired, the content informationacquisition unit 101 associates the content information with theacquired date/time before recording the content information in thestorage unit 113.

Along with the acquisition of content information, the rendererapparatus control unit 111 of the information processing apparatus 10may acquire renderer apparatus attribute information of the rendererapparatus 30 to which the information processing apparatus 10 can beconnected. The acquired renderer apparatus attribute information ispreferably recorded in the storage unit 113 after being associated withthe acquired date/time.

Along with the acquisition of content information, the contentinformation acquisition unit 101 of the information processing apparatus10 may determine the operating state of the content management server 20connected to the information processing apparatus 10. If the operatingstate is determined, a determination result thereof is recorded in thestorage unit 113 after being associated with the determinationdate/time.

If the user of the information processing apparatus 10 selects ageneration instruction of a content list in some timing, the user inputprocessing unit 103 of the information processing apparatus 10 transmitsa message to the effect that a generation instruction of a content listis selected by the user to the content list generation unit 105. Afterreceiving the message, the content list generation unit 105 starts togenerate a content list (step S103).

More specifically, the content list generation unit 105 references thestorage unit 113 to acquire the latest content information and generatesa content list based on the acquired content information. If anydetermination result about the operating state of the content managementserver 20 or renderer apparatus attribute information about the rendererapparatus 30 is present in the storage unit 113, the content listgeneration unit 105 may add such information to a content list to begenerated. It is possible, for example, to set to make a grayout displayfor content stored in a server for which data of a determination resultby the content management server indicates a non-operating state or addinformation about the selectable renderer apparatus 30 to a pull-downmenu or popup menu of the content list. The content list generation unit105 transmits the generated content list to the display control unit 109to cause the display unit (not shown) of the information processingapparatus 10 to display the content list (step S105).

If the user of the information processing apparatus 10 selects somepiece of content at some point in time (step S107), the user inputprocessing unit 103 converts user input into a predetermined signal andmakes a notification to the content reproduction processing unit 107.After receiving the notification from the user input processing unit103, the content reproduction processing unit 107 generates areproduction list constituted from content selected by the user whilereferencing databases recorded in the storage unit 113.

Subsequently, the content reproduction processing unit 107 determineswhether to reproduce the selected content by the information processingapparatus 10 or the renderer apparatus 30 (step S109). Morespecifically, if a notification is made by a signal from the user inputprocessing unit 103 that content will be reproduced by the rendererapparatus 30, the content reproduction processing unit 107 performsprocessing at step S117 and thereafter described later. If nonotification is made by a signal that content will be reproduced by therenderer apparatus 30, or a notification is made by a signal thatcontent will be reproduced by the information processing apparatus 10,the content information acquisition unit 101 acquires content data fromthe content management server 20 based on the generated reproductionlist (step S111) and transmits the acquired content data to the contentreproduction processing unit 107. The content reproduction processingunit 107 performs reproduction processing of the acquired content dataand, if it is necessary to display image data in the display unit (notshown), causes the display unit to display the image via the displaycontrol unit 109.

Here, if content is reproduced by the information processing apparatus10 and a notification to switch the reproduction apparatus to a rendererapparatus is transmitted from the user input processing unit 103 (stepS115), the content reproduction processing unit 107 performs processingat step D117 described later. If no such notification is made, thecontent reproduction processing unit 107 reproduces content based on thereproduction list and terminates reproduction processing whenreproduction terminates.

If reproduction of content by the renderer apparatus 30 is selected, theinformation processing apparatus 10 starts control of the rendererapparatus 30 (step S117). First, the content reproduction processingunit 107 makes a notification to the renderer apparatus 30 whose URLdescribed in the reproduction list is designated via the rendererapparatus control unit 111. Subsequently, when acquisition of contentdata is completed in the renderer apparatus 30, the renderer apparatuscontrol unit 111 transmits a reproduction start request to the rendererapparatus 30. When reproduction of content starts, the rendererapparatus control unit 111 notifies the renderer apparatus 30 of areproduction state information acquisition request of content atpredetermined intervals (for example, every one second).

When reproduction of content starts in the renderer apparatus 30, thecontent reproduction processing unit 107 of the information processingapparatus 10 also displays the reproduction state in the display unitusing cache data such as a thumbnail recorded in the storage unit 113(step S119).

Subsequently, the information processing method when the informationprocessing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment functions asa DMC with reference to FIG. 5.

In the information processing method according to the presentembodiment, as described above, the content information acquisition unit101 of the information processing apparatus 10 acquires contentinformation from each of the content management servers 20 (step S201)to generate a content list. When the user selects content desired to bereproduced from the content list and also selects reproduction of thecontent by the renderer apparatus 30 connected to the informationprocessing apparatus 10, the renderer apparatus control unit 111 of theinformation processing apparatus 10 transmits a URL described in thereproduction list generated by the content reproduction processing unit107 to the renderer apparatus 30 to set the URL of content (step S203).The renderer apparatus control unit 111 of the information processingapparatus 10 also transmits a reproduction request of content (stepS205) to instruction reproduction of the content.

After receiving the URL, a content data acquisition unit 301 of therenderer apparatus 30 notifies the content management server 20 of anacquisition request of content data through HTTP connection byreferencing the notified URL (step S207). The content data acquisitionunit 301 of the renderer apparatus 30 acquires content data from thecontent management server 20 (step S209). The acquired content data isreproduced by a content reproduction processing unit 303 of the rendererapparatus 30 and, if necessary, display control is exercised by adisplay control unit 305. When content data is acquired or content isreproduced, each processing unit of the renderer apparatus 30 can refervarious databases recorded in a storage unit 307.

The renderer apparatus control unit 111 of the information processingapparatus 10 also transmits a reproduction state information acquisitionrequest of content in the renderer apparatus 30 at predeterminedintervals (step S211). The content reproduction processing unit 303 ofthe renderer apparatus 30 transmits the reproduction state in therenderer apparatus 30 to the information processing apparatus (stepS213). The information processing apparatus 10 can perform various kindsof processing based on the received reproduction state of content.

According to the information processing method in the presentembodiment, as described above, a thumbnail image is displayed in thedisplay screen of the information processing apparatus 10 when theinformation processing apparatus 10 functions as a DMC. Accordingly, theuser of the information processing apparatus 10 can intuitively checkcontent being reproduced by the renderer apparatus 30 on the informationprocessing apparatus 10.

Depending on the type of the content management server 20, the contentmanagement server 20 may not be able to receive a plurality ofconnection requests of an HTTP simultaneously to deliver content to theinformation processing apparatus 10 and the renderer apparatus 30, whichare client devices. However, according to the information processingapparatus 10 and the information processing method in the presentembodiment, when the information processing apparatus 10 functions as aDMC, the reproduction state in the renderer apparatus 30 can be checkedby causing the display unit to display thumbnail images cached inadvance. Accordingly, the need to transmit a connection request from theinformation processing apparatus 10 functioning as a DMC to the contentmanagement server 20 is eliminated so that connection from the rendererapparatus 30 that should reproduce content to the content managementserver 20 can be prevented from being disturbed.

Further, in the information processing method according to the presentembodiment, the selection of content to be reproduced by the rendererapparatus 30 can be made based on a database in which information iscached from content information and therefore, the renderer apparatus 30can be caused to continuously reproduce content present on a pluralityof the content management servers 20.

Next, the flow of the information processing method will be described indetail by taking an example in which the information processingapparatus 10 according to the present embodiment reproduces content as aslideshow with reference to FIG. 6.

The content reproduction processing unit 107 of the informationprocessing apparatus 10 selects content to be reproduced next from agenerated reproduction list (step S301). At this point, whether or notthere is content to be reproduced next is determined (step S303). Ifthere is no content to be reproduced next, the content reproductionprocessing unit 107 terminates the slideshow reproduction. If there iscontent to be reproduced next, the content reproduction processing unit107 of the information processing apparatus 10 requests the contentinformation acquisition unit 101 to acquire content data and the contentinformation acquisition unit 101 acquires content data from the contentmanagement servers 20. Subsequently, the content reproduction processingunit 107 and the display control unit 109 display the acquired contentdata in the screen (step S305) and starts measurement of the time tocontrol the slideshow interval.

Here, the content reproduction processing unit 107 determines whether ornot reproduction by the renderer apparatus 30, which is an externallyconnected device, is designated (step S307). If reproduction by therenderer apparatus 30 is designated, the content reproduction processingunit 107 performs processing at step S311 and thereafter describedlater. If reproduction by the renderer apparatus 30 is not selected, thecontent reproduction processing unit 107 determines whether or not apredetermined time interval has passed (in other words, whether or not apreset slideshow interval has passed) (step S309). If the predeterminedtime interval has not passed, the content reproduction processing unit107 waits to see whether or not reproduction by the renderer apparatus30 is designated while continuing to display the content currently beingreproduced. If the predetermined time interval has passed, the contentreproduction processing unit 107 determines that the timing to switchthe display of content has come and performs processing at step S301.

If, on the other hand, reproduction by the renderer apparatus 30 isdesignated at step S307, the content reproduction processing unit 107acquires a thumbnail image and metadata corresponding to the contentcurrently being reproduced from a database recorded in the storage unit113 (step S311). Subsequently, the content reproduction processing unit107 and the display control unit 109 of the information processingapparatus 10 that starts to function as a DMC display the acquiredthumbnail image and metadata in the display unit (step S313).

Next, the renderer apparatus control unit 111 of the informationprocessing apparatus 10 sets the URL of content to the rendererapparatus 30 to start reproduction of the content (step S315).

The renderer apparatus control unit 111 of the information processingapparatus 10 checks the reproduction state of the renderer apparatus 30(step S317) each time a predetermined time interval (for example, onesecond) passes to make a determination based on reproduction stateinformation of the acquired renderer apparatus 30 (step S319). If thereproduction state transmitted from the renderer apparatus 30 indicatesthat a different URL being reproduced or reproduction of content beingstopped, the renderer apparatus control unit 111 regards operations tothe renderer apparatus 30 being interrupted and terminates the slideshowreproduction by displaying a message. If reproduction state informationreceived from the renderer apparatus 30 is not as mentioned above, therenderer apparatus control unit 111 subsequently determines whether ornot the renderer apparatus 30 is in the reproduction state (step S321).If the renderer apparatus 30 is not in the reproduction state, therenderer apparatus control unit 111 returns to step S317 to check thereproduction state of the renderer apparatus 30. If the rendererapparatus 30 is in the reproduction state, the renderer apparatuscontrol unit 111 determines whether or not a predetermined time intervalhas passed (in other words, whether or not a preset slideshow intervalhas passed) (step S323). If the predetermined time interval has notpassed, the renderer apparatus control unit 111 returns to step S317 tocheck the reproduction state of the renderer apparatus 30. If thepredetermined time interval has passed, the renderer apparatus controlunit 111 determines that the timing to switch the display of content hascome and performs processing at step S325.

If the renderer apparatus control unit 111 determines that the timing toswitch the display of content has come, the content reproductionprocessing unit 107 selects content to be displayed next from thereproduction list (S325). At this point, whether or not there is contentto be reproduced next is determined (step S327). If there is no contentto be reproduced next, the content reproduction processing unit 107terminates the slideshow reproduction. If there is content to bereproduced next, the content reproduction processing unit 107 performsprocessing at step S311 and thereafter.

By performing processing described above, an information processingapparatus according to the present embodiment can carry out slideshowreproduction of content even when the information processing apparatusfunctions as a DMP or as a DMC.

<Concrete Examples of the Information Processing Method>

Subsequently, concrete examples of the information processing methodaccording to the present embodiment will be described in detail withreference to FIGS. 7 to 13. FIGS. 7 to 13 are explanatory viewsillustrating concrete examples of the information processing methodaccording to the present embodiment.

[An Example of the User Interface]

The information processing method executed by the information processingapparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described indetail below by taking an example of a user interface.

The information processing apparatus 10 according to the presentembodiment has a user interface (UI) as shown, for example, in FIG. 7displayed in the display unit (not shown). In the user interface, acontent display area 501 has content type display objects 503representing content types and hierarchical container display objects505 related to each content type displayed therein orthogonal to eachother.

The content display area 501 also has selection objects 507 forselecting objects being displayed and command selection objects 509displayed therein.

The content type display object 503 is an object such as an iconrepresenting the type of content and in FIG. 7, an “option” object, a“photo” object, a “music” object, a “video” object, and a “video (TVrecording)” object are displayed from the left in order.

In a user interface according to the present embodiment, content data ishierarchically stored for each type of content. In the example shown inFIG. 7, for example, content belonging to the “photo” object isclassified into two containers, a “play list” container and a “date”container.

Examples of hierarchical containers set for each type of content areshown in FIG. 8.

As shown in FIG. 8, each type of content has a hierarchical structure ofthree levels from the first layer to the third layer, and a collectionof content data is stored in the third layer as items.

Content displayed as second layer objects and third layer objectsincludes not only content stored in the information processing apparatus10, but also all content stored in the content management server 20connectable by the information processing apparatus 10. When content isdisplayed, which content belongs to which device is not displayed.Therefore, the user can perform operations as if to select contentstored in one device without the need to be aware of which contentbelongs to which device.

The example shown in FIG. 9 shows a case in which the “photo” content isselected as the content type object 503 and further, a “year/month”container belonging to the first layer is selected as the hierarchicalcontainer display objects 505.

If the user of the information processing apparatus 10 selects, forexample, a container of “2008/01”, as shown in FIG. 9, photo contentphotographed in January 2008 is classified by shooting date anddisplayed. At this point, content 517 stored in the content managementserver 20 and the information processing apparatus 10 itself in theoperating state is displayed in normal brightness as a thumbnail, andcontent 519 stored in the content management server 20 in thenon-operating state is displayed in grayout display as a thumbnail. InFIG. 9, thumbnails whose outer frame is displayed by dotted linesindicate a grayout display. If thumbnail data is not present, as shownin FIG. 9, a default object is displayed in place of the thumbnail.

Here, if, as shown in FIG. 9, the applicable container is not displayedin one screen, a scroll bar 513 is displayed in the content display area501.

Here, if the user operates the selection objects 507 to select one pieceor a plurality of pieces of content, a command selection window 521 asshown in FIG. 10 is displayed. If a “Display” command in the commandselection window 521 is selected, the selected content can be reproducedin the information processing apparatus 10. If a “Display in otherdevice” command in the command selection window 521 is selected, theinformation processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodimentfunctions as a DMC and the designated renderer apparatus 30 can becaused to reproduce content.

If, for example, the “Display” command is selected in the commandselection window 521, as shown in FIG. 11, display content in thecontent display area 501 changes to reproduce the selected content. Asshown in FIG. 11, content execution control buttons 523 are displayed inthe execution screen of content. At this point, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment functions asa DMP and therefore, the information processing apparatus 10 acquirescontent data from the content management server 20 managing the contentselected by the content information acquisition unit 101 and reproducesthe content based on the acquired content data.

For example, by right-clicking or pressing a predetermined key whilecontent being reproduced, as shown in FIG. 12, the command selectionwindow 521 can be caused to display. If, in this case, the “Display inother device” command is selected, a list of the renderer apparatuses 30capable of reproducing content is displayed as a renderer apparatusdisplay window 525. A plurality of the renderer apparatuses 30 connectedvia a network is displayed in the renderer apparatus display window 525and the user of the information processing apparatus 10 can designatethe renderer apparatus 30 of the selected content from the plurality ofthe displayed renderer apparatuses 30. As shown in FIG. 12, objects suchas icons attached to renderer apparatuses and names attached to therenderer apparatuses are displayed in the renderer apparatus displaywindow 525. The order of display of the renderer apparatuses may beaccording to predetermined rules or according to the order of detection.A renderer apparatus that may not be designated to reproduce content(for example, a renderer apparatus that is not turned on, in a sleepstate, or disconnected from a network so that no response is received)is displayed, as shown in FIG. 12, in grayout display and may not beselected as a renderer apparatus to reproduce content. In FIG. 12, arenderer apparatus whose outer frame is displayed by dotted linesindicates a grayout display. In the renderer apparatus display window525, all the renderer apparatuses 30 connected to a network may bedisplayed regardless of whether or nor designable, as shown above, oronly the renderer apparatuses connected to a network and designable as arenderer apparatus to reproduce content may be displayed.

If the apparatus desired for reproduction is selected from amongrenderer apparatuses displayed in the renderer apparatus display window525, reproduction of content starts in the selected renderer apparatus30. Further, as shown in FIG. 13, a thumbnail 527 corresponding to thecontent being reproduced by the renderer apparatus 30 is displayed inthe display screen of the information processing apparatus 10 afterbeing acquired from the storage unit 113 of the information processingapparatus 10. Also, information about the renderer apparatus 30reproducing content is displayed in the display screen of theinformation processing apparatus 10 as a reproduction device informationdisplay window 529. In the reproduction device information displaywindow 529, for example, as shown in FIG. 13, the icon and name of therenderer apparatus 30 reproducing content whose thumbnail is displayedare displayed.

In the information processing method according to the presentembodiment, as described above, when the information processingapparatus 10 functions as a DMC, the information processing apparatus 10displays thumbnail data cached in advance and the renderer apparatus 30acquires content data from the content management server 20 to reproducecontent. In accordance with the DLNA guideline focused on by aninformation processing system according to the present embodiment, thecontent management server 20 may not be able to simultaneously receive aplurality of connection requests of HTTP to deliver content. However,the information processing apparatus 10 according to the presentembodiment makes a display based on cache data when the informationprocessing apparatus 10 functions as a DMC and therefore, the rendererapparatus 30 can establish a connection by the HTTP with the contentmanagement server 20 so that loads of the content management server 20can be reduced.

In the foregoing, the information processing method executed by theinformation processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodimenthas been described in detail by taking an example of the user interface.However, the above example is only an example and a user interface ofthe information processing apparatus 10 according to the presentembodiment is not limited to the above example.

<Hardware Configuration>

Next, the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus10 according to each embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 14. FIG. 14 is a blockdiagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the informationprocessing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment.

The information processing apparatus 10 mainly includes a CPU 901, a ROM903, a RAM 905, a host bus 907, a bridge 909, an external bus 911, aninterface 913, an input apparatus 915, an output apparatus 917, astorage device 919, a drive 921, a connection port 923, and acommunication apparatus 925.

The CPU 901 functions as a processing unit and also as a control unitand controls overall operations or a portion thereof in the informationprocessing apparatus 10 following various programs recorded in the ROM903, the RAM 905, the storage device 919, or a removable recordingmedium 927. The ROM 903 stores programs, arithmetic parameters and thelike used by the CPU 901. The RAM 905 temporarily stores programs usedby the CPU 901 and parameters and the like changing as necessary inexecution thereof. These components are mutually connected by the hostbus 907 constituted by an internal bus such as a CPU bus.

The host bus 907 is connected to the external bus 911 such as a PCI(Peripheral Component Interconnect/Interface) bus via the bridge 909.

The input apparatus 915 is an operation means for operation by the usersuch as a mouse, keyboard, touch panel, button, switch, and lever. Theinput apparatus 915 may also be a remote control means (a so-calledremocon) using, for example, infrared rays or other radio waves, or anexternally connected device 929 such as a mobile phone and PDAsupporting operations of the information processing apparatus 10.Further, the input apparatus 915 includes, for example, an input controlcircuit that generates an input signal based on information input by theuser using the above operation means and outputs the input signal to theCPU 901. By operating the input apparatus 915, the user of theinformation processing apparatus 10 can input various kinds of data intothe information processing apparatus 10 and instruct the informationprocessing apparatus 10 to perform processing operations.

The output apparatus 917 includes, for example, a display device such asa CRT display device, liquid crystal display device, plasma displaydevice, EL display device, and lamp, a sound output apparatus such as aspeaker and headphone, and a device capable of notifying the user ofacquired information visually or auditorily such as a printer device,mobile phone, and facsimile. The output apparatus 917 outputs, forexample, results obtained by various kinds of processing performed bythe information processing apparatus 10. More specifically, a displaydevice displays results obtained by various kinds of processingperformed by the information processing apparatus 10 as text or images.A sound output apparatus, on the other hand, converts an audio signalincluding reproduced sound data and acoustic data into an analog signaland outputs the analog signal.

The storage device 919 is a device for data storage constituted as anexample of the storage unit of the information processing apparatus 10and includes, for example, a magnetic storage unit device such as an HDD(Hard Disk Drive), semiconductor storage device, optical storage device,and magneto-optical storage device. The storage device 919 storesprograms executed by the CPU 910, various kinds of data, and acousticsignal data and image signal data acquired from outside.

The drive 921 is a reader/writer for recording medium and is installedin the information processing apparatus 10 internally or externally. Thedrive 921 reads out information recorded in the removable recordingmedium 927 such as an inserted magnetic disk, optical disk,magneto-optical disk, and semiconductor memory and outputs theinformation to the RAM 905. The drive 921 can also write a record intothe removable recording medium 927 such as an inserted magnetic disk,optical disk, magneto-optical disk, and semiconductor memory. Theremovable recording medium 927 is, for example, a DVD medium, HD-DVDmedium, Blu-ray medium, CompactFlash (CF) (registered trademark), memorystick, or SD memory card (Secure Digital memory card). The removablerecording medium 927 may also be, for example, an IC card (IntegratedCircuit card) or electronic device in which a non-contact IC chip ismounted.

The connection port 923 is a port for directly connecting a device tothe information processing apparatus 10, for example, a USB (UniversalSerial Bus) port, IEEE1394 port such as i. Link, an SCSI (Small ComputerSystem Interface) port, RS-232C port, optical audio terminal, and anHDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) port. By connecting theexternally connected device 929 to the connection port 923, theinformation processing apparatus 10 directly acquires various kinds ofdata such as acoustic signal data and image signal data from theexternally connected device 929 or provides various kinds of data suchas acoustic signal data and image signal data to the externallyconnected device 929.

The communication apparatus 925 is a communication interface constitutedby a communication device or the like for connecting, for example, to acommunication network 931. The communication apparatus 925 may be a wireor wireless LAN (Local Area Network), Bluetooth, communication card forWUSB (Wireless USB), router for optical communication, router for ADSL(Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), or modem for various kinds ofcommunication. The communication apparatus 925 can, for example,transmit and receive signals and the like according to a predeterminedprotocol such as TCP/IP to/from the Internet or other communicationdevices. The communication network 931 connected by the communicationapparatus 925 includes a network or the like connected by wire or byradio and may be, for example, the Internet, a home LAN, infrared-raycommunication, radio wave communication, or satellite communication.

In the foregoing, an example of the hardware configuration that canrealize functions of the information processing apparatus 10 of eachembodiment of the present invention has been shown. Each of the abovecomponents may be constituted by using general-purpose members or byhardware specialized for the function of each component. Therefore, thehardware configuration to be used can be changed in accordance with thetechnical level when the present embodiment is carried out if necessary.

Since the hardware configuration of the content management server 20 andthe renderer apparatus 30 is substantially the same as that of theinformation processing apparatus 10, a description thereof is omitted.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

Although the invention herein has been described with reference toparticular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodimentsare merely illustrative of the principles and applications of thepresent invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerousmodifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that otherarrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:a selection unit that receives a user input to select content to bereproduced at the information processing apparatus and identify anexternal device which reproduces the selected content, the externaldevice being connected to the information processing apparatus; acommunication unit that sends, to the external device, a request toreproduce the selected content, and receives, from the external device,information indicating whether the external device has startedreproducing the selected content; a content storing unit; a contentreproduction processing unit that reproduces the selected content storedin the content storing unit and a thumbnail image stored in the contentstoring unit; and a display control unit that controls to display theselected content or the thumbnail image reproduced by the contentreproduction processing unit, wherein the display control unit providesan object, including at least information of a type of contentreproducible by the external device, to identify the external devicewhile the selected content is reproduced and controlled to be displayedat the information processing apparatus, and the communication unitsends the request to the external device based on selection of theobject, and wherein the display control unit controls to display thethumbnail image corresponding to the selected content being reproducedby the external device while the external device reproduces the selectedcontent.
 2. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the communication unit transmits, to the external device,information indicating a reproducing point of the selected content tocause the external device to reproduce the selected content according tothe reproducing point.
 3. An information processing apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the communication unit receives, from the externaldevice, information indicating that the reproduction of the selectedcontent by the external device has been interrupted, and the displaycontrol unit causes a display of a message accordingly.
 4. Aninformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein inresponse a user operation carried out while the external devicereproduces the selected content, the display control unit causes adisplay of a window identifying the external device.
 5. An informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in response a useroperation carried out while the external device reproduces the selectedcontent, the display control unit causes a display of a list of externaldevices and, for each one of the external devices, an indication whetherthat external device is connected to information processing apparatus,the list identifying which one of the external devices is the externaldevice reproducing the selected content.
 6. An information processingapparatus according to claim 5, wherein in response a user operationselecting another one of the external devices from the list of externaldevices, reproduction of the selected content is switched to the anotherone of the external devices, and the communication unit transmits, tothe another one of the external devices, information indicating areproducing point of the selected content to cause the another one ofthe external devices to synchronize the reproduction of the selectedcontent according to the reproducing point.
 7. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unitstores a plurality of thumbnail images respectively associated with aplurality of characteristic points in the selected content, and thecontent reproduction processing unit reproduces a particular one of theplurality of thumbnail images that is associated with a current one ofthe plurality of characteristic points in the selected content.
 8. Aninformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theobject comprises an icon and a name of the external device, and theobject is displayed in a window.
 9. An information processing apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein information about the external devicewhich reproduces the selected content is displayed with the thumbnailimage corresponding to the user selected content being reproduced by theexternal device while the external device reproduces the selectedcontent.
 10. In an information processing apparatus, an informationprocessing method comprising: receiving a user input to select contentto be reproduced at the information processing apparatus and identifyingan external device which reproduces the selected content, the externaldevice being connected to the information processing apparatus; sending,to the external device, a request to reproduce the selected content, andreceiving, from the external device, information indicating whether theexternal device has started reproducing the selected content;reproducing the selected content stored in a content storing unit of theinformation processing apparatus and a thumbnail image stored in thecontent storing unit; and controlling display of the selected content orthe thumbnail image reproduced in the step of reproducing, wherein anobject is provided, including at least information of a type of contentreproducible by the external device, to identify the external devicewhile the selected content is reproduced and controlled to be displayedat the information processing apparatus, and the request is sent to theexternal device based on selection of the object, and whereincontrolling display of the thumbnail image corresponding to the selectedcontent being reproduced by the external device is performed while theexternal device reproduces the selected content.
 11. An informationprocessing system, comprising: a content management server that managescontent; an information processing apparatus; and a renderer apparatusconnected to the information processing apparatus; the informationprocessing apparatus, including: a selection unit that receives a userinput to select content to be reproduced at the information processingapparatus and identify an external device which reproduces the selectedcontent, the external device being connected to the informationprocessing apparatus; a communication unit that sends, to the externaldevice, a request to reproduce the selected content, and receives, fromthe external device, information indicating whether the external devicehas started reproducing the selected content; a content storing unit; acontent reproduction processing unit that reproduces the selectedcontent stored in the content storing unit and a thumbnail image storedin the content storing unit; and a display control unit that controls todisplay the selected content or the thumbnail image reproduced by thecontent reproduction processing unit, wherein the display control unitprovides an object, including at least information of a type of contentreproducible by the external device, to identify the external devicewhile the selected content is reproduced and controlled to be displayedat the information processing apparatus, and the communication unitsends the request to the external device based on selection of theobject, and wherein the display control unit controls to display thethumbnail image corresponding to the selected content being reproducedby the external device while the external device reproduces the selectedcontent.
 12. An information processing apparatus, comprising: a userinput processing part that receives a user selection of content to bereproduced by an external device connected to the information processingapparatus and an external device which reproduces the selected content;an external device control part that sends, to the external device, arequest to reproduce the user selected content, and receives, from theexternal device, information indicating whether the external device hasstarted reproducing the selected content; a storage part that stores acontent and a thumbnail image corresponding to the content; and acontent reproduction processing part that reproduces the content and thethumbnail image stored in the storage part, wherein the external devicecontrol part sends the request to the external device based on userselection of the external device while the selected content isreproduced at the information processing apparatus, wherein userselection of the external device is realized by selection of an objectincluding at least information of a type of content reproducible by theexternal device, and wherein the thumbnail image corresponding to theselected content being reproduced by the external device is reproducedby the content reproduction processing part while the external devicereproduces the selected content.
 13. An information processing apparatusaccording to claim 12, wherein the object includes an icon and a name ofthe external device, which is displayed in a window.
 14. An informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein information aboutthe external device which reproduces the selected content is displayedwith the thumbnail image corresponding to the user selected contentbeing reproduced by the external device while the external devicereproduces the selected content.
 15. The information processingapparatus according to claim 12, wherein the user selection of contentcomprises user selection of content from a content list.
 16. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein thecontent list includes information indicating content category and aplurality of contents, the plurality of contents being arranged based onrespective timings at which the plurality of contents were generated,and wherein the contents in the list are scrollable.
 17. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein, the contentreproduction processing part acquires a thumbnail image and metadatacorresponding to the content being reproduced by the external device,and reproduces the acquired thumbnail image and metadata while theexternal device reproduces the selected content.
 18. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein when the user inputprocessing part receives the user selection of content, the apparatusdisplays a command window including a command to reproduce the contentby the external device.
 19. An information processing apparatus,comprising: an input hardware device to enable a user to provide inputs;and circuitry configured to (1) receive a first input from the user byuse of the input hardware device to select content, the selected contenthaving a number of content portions, (2) reproduce the selected content,(3) control to display information of an external device with an objectindicating types of content reproducible by the external device, whereinthe content is at least one of photo data, video data, or music data,(4) receive a second input from the user by use of the input hardwaredevice to select the external device based on the displayed informationwhile the selected content is being reproduced at the informationprocessing apparatus, (5) send, to the external device, a request toreproduce the selected content, and (6) indicate whether the externaldevice is reproducing the selected content, in which the selectedcontent being reproduced at the information processing apparatus whenthe second input is received is a portion of the same content as theselected content requested to be reproduced by the external device. 20.An information processing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein thecircuitry is configured to transmit, to the external device, informationindicating a reproducing point of the selected content to cause theexternal device to reproduce the selected content according to thereproducing point.
 21. An information processing apparatus according toclaim 19, wherein the circuitry is configured to receive, from theexternal device, information indicating that the reproduction of theselected content by the external device has been interrupted, and tocause a display of a message accordingly.
 22. An information processingapparatus according to claim 19, wherein in response to a user operationcarried out while the external device reproduces the selected content,the circuitry is configured to cause a display of a window identifyingthe external device.
 23. An information processing apparatus accordingto claim 19, wherein in response to a user operation carried out whilethe external device reproduces the selected content, the circuitry isconfigured to cause a display of a list of external devices and, foreach one of the external devices, an indication whether that externaldevice is connected to information processing apparatus, the listidentifying which one of the external devices is the external devicereproducing the selected content.
 24. An information processingapparatus according to claim 23, wherein in response to a user operationselecting another one of the external devices from the list of externaldevices, reproduction of the selected content is switched to the anotherone of the external devices, and the circuitry is configured totransmit, to the another one of the external devices, informationindicating a reproducing point of the selected content to cause theanother one of the external devices to synchronize the reproduction ofthe selected content according to the reproducing point.
 25. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein thecircuitry is configured to store a plurality of thumbnail imagesrespectively associated with a plurality of characteristic points in theselected content, and to reproduce a particular one of the plurality ofthumbnail images that is associated with a current one of the pluralityof characteristic points in the selected content.
 26. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the circuitry isconfigured to, in response to the external device having startedreproduction of the selected content, acquire the thumbnail image thatcorresponds to the content being reproduced by the external device andreproduce the acquired thumbnail image.
 27. The information processingapparatus according to claim 19, wherein the content is stored in amemory.